A Dream Boy and a Panther
by Standard-Ang3l
Summary: Caitlyn has a wonderful dream. Then Mitchie wakes her up. Jaitlyn with minor Smitchie and kinda sorta hints of Natella.


This is based on a real dream I had. And then my sister woke me up. Unfortunately, Caitlyn's much luckier than I am.

Also, angellwings has had a bit of a bad night, so, this is for her. She also helped with bits and pieces of it. The minor Natella in it is also for her. Although it's seriously growing on me. Hee.

* * *

"Caitlyn, do you want to go to the coffee shop with me?" the guy, Andrew asked. She'd never seen him before and didn't question how he knew her name.

"Uh, yeah. Sure. I love coffee," Caitlyn said as she picked up her bag and followed him out to his car. She didn't know him at all, but felt completely safe and not at all in danger. He was very cute with his overlong straight dark hair and Buddy Holly glasses. Plus, he was tall with a slim build and his jeans fit him _very_ nicely.

"Good, get in. I know the perfect place," he said, opening the passenger side door.

"Thanks," she said softly as she slid in the car. He went around to the other side and got in the car.

They had been driving for a bit when he cleared his throat pointedly. "Caity…I'm glad you're with me…I really like you, you know," he said shyly as they made their way through the dark streets to the late-night coffee shop. Andrew reached over and put his hand lightly on her knee. The contact made her blush hotly, but she didn't mind it at all.

"I'm glad you're with me too," she replied, putting her hand over his.

This wasn't logical. She had only met him a few minutes ago and here they were, proclaiming their feelings for each other.

They pulled into the parking lot and he led her into the coffee shop, never letting go of her hand. Caitlyn smiled and ducked her head shyly. Andrew was wonderful. He got her a large black coffee with nutmeg and cinnamon in it and they sat in a cozy little loveseat and talked quietly until another couple that Andrew apparently knew came over and greeted them.

"Hey, you," the girl said to Andrew. "Who's the chick?"

"This is Caitlyn, Amanda," Andrew said, putting his arm around Caitlyn's shoulders.

"Oh cool. Caitlyn, wanna see something cool?" Amanda said.

"Sure," Caitlyn said eagerly.

"Look," Amanda said, holding out her coffee cup. "It's a bat."

"It was in her cup for some reason," the boy with her said with a shrug.

"That's not a bat, 'Manda. That's a baby panther," Andrew said.

Caitlyn privately wondered how anyone could get them confused, but she had gotten in a car with a boy she didn't know who had told her he liked her and knew her favorite kind of coffee, so she didn't question it.

All of a sudden, they heard a low growl from outside and the four of them looked towards the window.

A huge panther was walking outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching them as they looked down at the sleeping baby panther in the coffee cup. All of a sudden, the adult panther let out a shriek and charged for the doors. Andrew got in front of her and then…

"CAITLYN. FOR THE LAST TIME. WAKE UP!"

Caitlyn was out of bed like a shot as Mitchie pounced on her bed and pulled the covers off of her.

"Mitchieee! Why did you wake me up?" Caitlyn screamed as she attempted to crawl into Mitchie's vacated bed.

"Because it's time for breakfast and you need to jumpstart your metabolism," Mitchie said cheerfully as she tugged Caitlyn out of bed.

Caitlyn glared at Mitchie. "That is the worst answer in the history of answers. I was on a coffee date with a cute, adorable guy in tight pants and—"

"Was it Jason?" Mitchie said devilishly.

"No. His name was Andrew."

"Oh. An-drew. It's two syllables. Like Ja-son."

"Mitchie…please stop smiling. It's too bright and my eyes haven't adjusted."

"Well it's a good thing I haven't opened the blinds yet. You'd be blinded."

"Mitchie. I need my eyes. Leave the blinds down. At least for a little bit. Please?"

"Fine, fine. But get dressed."

"Do I have to?" Caitlyn whined.

"Yes. Shane and them are eating breakfast with us today."

"What?" Caitlyn asked, alarmed. She leapt out of bed and ran to her closet. "I need something to wear!"

"For…Jason?" Mitchie asked with a knowing grin.

"No, why would you say that?" Caitlyn said, a little too chirpily.

"Because you had an 'I heart Jason' pin on your bag when you arrived?"

"Jason Mraz."

"Mhm," Mitchie said, not fully convinced.

"I'm sorry that I want to look nice for three internationally-known rock stars, Mitch, but I can't help it."

"Wear the gray shirt and darker skinny jeans you have in there. Converse and one of those pendant necklaces too."

"Anything else, oh fashionista?"

"Not too much eye makeup."

"Why?"

"Jason thinks it makes girls look like raccoons."

"He likes raccoons."

"Not if they're not fluffy with a striped tail."

"Bah. Whatever. Let me get dressed and then we can go off and eat breakfast."

"And you can sit next to Jason."

"Why do I have to sit next to Jason?"

"Because I'm sitting next to Shane and Ella's sitting next to Nate."

"Ella and…Nate?"

"Don't ask me, it's just what happened."

"Whatever. I can sit next to Jason."

"For how long before you pounce on him?"

"How long can you go without kissing Shane?" Caitlyn shot back.

Mitchie flushed. "That's different. We're dating."

"So, you can kiss a guy because you're dating him…but I can't pounce on a guy I allegedly like? How else will he know I like him?"

"Write a song?"

"That's your thing, not mine."

"You're witty. You like words. You can carry on a conversation."

"Yeah, with sarcasm. How would a completely sarcastic love song go?"

"Beats me. Let's go."

"But I'm not done! My hair looks like a rat's nest!"

"You have a brush. Use it."

Caitlyn glared.

"Fine…ten minutes. But you better look damn good for all this time you're putting in."

"Don't worry. I will," Caitlyn said, flouncing into the bathroom.

She emerged the allotted ten minutes later, looking 'damn good'.

"_Now_ can we go?" Mitchie asked.

"I don't know…_can_ we?"

"Psh. Come on. I want pancakes."

Caitlyn followed Mitchie out the door and down the path to the dining hall. After grabbing their food, they sat down at the table Shane was sharing with Jason, Nate and Ella.

Mitchie pointedly directed her gaze to the empty seat beside Jason as she sat in her place next to Shane. Caitlyn sighed and downed about half of her coffee before attempting any sort of conversation with anyone.

"Did you sleep well?" Jason asked her.

"Yeah. Until Mitchie woke me up by jumping on me."

"Sorry…she got that idea from me, I think," Ella said sheepishly.

"Ella! I was in the middle of a great dream! Cute boy! Buying me coffee! Protecting me from panthers!"

She noticed everyone staring at her after a moment and laughed awkwardly.

"Why would he have to protect you from panthers?" Ella asked.

"Because one was attacking us." Okay, now it sounded stupid.

"…Start at the beginning, please," said Ella.

"This guy, Andrew. I didn't know him or anything…but I knew his name was Andrew. He asked me to get coffee with him and I said yes. So we got in his car—"

"You got in a car with a guy you didn't know?" Jason asked, bewildered.

"It was a dream," Caitlyn said patiently.

"Still," he said with a scoff.

"Can you just let her finish?" Nate said.

"Thanks, Nate," Caitlyn said, flashing a small smile at him. "Like I was saying, we went to go get coffee and he drove us to the shop in his car and he told me he really liked me and I told him I liked him too."

"You got in a car with this guy and told him you liked him?" Jason exclaimed.

"It was a dream. Common sense doesn't apply," she explained.

"Dude, shut up. This sounds cool," Shane said, leaning forward.

"Anyway. We got to the coffee shop and he brought me my favorite coffee. Black with cinnamon and nutmeg. Then we sat and talked and then this girl came up to us and showed us her coffee cup that she said had a bat in it. Then Andrew said it was a baby panther, not a bat. Then the mama panther charged at us and Andrew got in front of me. Then Mitchie woke me up."

"Mitchie! Why would you do that? Caitlyn had a nice, wonderful, caring guy taking care of her and you ruined it!" Ella said, whipping her head in Mitchie's direction, causing her hair to go flying in Nate's face.

"There are plenty of _real_ nice, wonderful, caring guys willing to take care of her," Mitchie said.

"Really, Mitch? Who are these guys? I'd kinda like to know," Caitlyn asked.

Mitchie didn't say anything, just discreetly looked over at Jason. Caitlyn glared at her and rolled her eyes. Jason picked at his eggs fairly violently and muttered something about panthers and coffee.

Shane and Nate smirked at each other and turned to Jason.

"What was that, Jase?" Shane asked.

"What about coffee and panthers?" Nate said.

"I said, big deal, he bought her coffee and protected her from a panther. He's a figment of her imagination. It doesn't count," he grumbled, getting up from the table and leaving.

"Hey, Nate. Does Jason sound _jealous_ to you?" Shane said.

"I don't know, Shane. Maybe. And I think I know why," Nate smirked, looking pointedly at Caitlyn.

"Oh, my god. Please grow up. I'd expect it from Shane, but not you," Ella said suddenly to Nate. She looked down at her empty plate and smiled. "I have to go. Later Mitchie, Caitlyn."

Nate stared at her empty seat in shock for a moment before getting up and following her out the doors. "Ella, come back. I was just joking. I didn't mean anything…El…"

"Why don't you go try to find Jason, Cait?" Mitchie said not-so-subtly, scooting closer to Shane.

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'll leave you two alone."

"Thank you much," Mitchie said.

Caitlyn left the dining hall and walked around a bit, trying to find Jason. She finally saw him at one of the docks, attempting to skip rocks on the water.

"You're doing it wrong," Caitlyn blurted.

"Well, excuse me if I don't want to take advice from a girl who got in a car with a stranger."

"Dude. It was a _dream_. No need to get all weirdly defensive and stuff."

"Still. It was dumb of you." He picked up another rock and didn't even attempt to skip it this time, instead throwing it violently into the lake.

"I'm not the one getting jealous of a random figment of someone's imagination."

Jason opened his mouth to respond, but had no words. Caitlyn smirked.

"Here," she said, picking up a stone. "You have to flick your wrist. Like this."

Jason tried but it only skipped once before sinking into the water. His face fell a little and he muttered under his breath.

Caitlyn exhaled before stepping closer to him. "Like this, Jase," she said softly, covering his hand with hers and demonstrating. "It's like throwing a Frisbee…move your feet a little further apart…yeah, like that…put your index finger on the edge of the stone…you'll want to throw it fast…and squat a little…then…just…throw…"

With Caitlyn guiding him, he managed to skip the rock three times across the surface of the water before it sank with a gurgle.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" he asked, turning towards her.

"_The Dangerous Book for Boys_."

"But…you're a girl…" he said, a little confused.

"Thanks for noticing," Caitlyn said flatly.

"I didn't mean that in a bad way…"

She smiled at Jason's attempt to remedy the situation. "I have _The Daring Book for Girls_, too, you know. But they have different things. And some of the stuff in the boys' book is more fun."

She picked up another rock and skipped it, aware that Jason was watching her closely.

"I'm sorry I got weird earlier."

"Yeah, why was that?" Caitlyn asked.

Jason fidgeted. "I don't know. You were all 'Oh, this boy was so great. He got me coffee and told me he liked me and he protected me from a panther and he was soooooo cute!' It just got on my nerves."

Caitlyn blinked. "Okay, two things. One, never use that falsetto again. Two, why did it get on your nerves?"

"He was a freaking figment of your imagination!" Jason exploded.

"I'm sorry that my subconscious wants a guy that knows what coffee I like and will tell me he likes me!" she scoffed.

"I can do that! And I can protect you from less ridiculous stuff than a stupid panther!"

"I—what?" Caitlyn asked as the words hit her.

"I'm real. I'm not some stupid guy from a dream that disappears as soon as Mitchie jumps on you and wakes you up."

"Prove it," Caitlyn said, crossing her arms.

"With pleasure," Jason growled. Quick as a flash, he reached out and pulled her to him before kissing her soundly on the mouth. She jerked out of his arms and shoved him away.

"What the hell was that?" she asked.

"You told me to prove it!" Jason said defensively.

"I meant, tell me you liked me or something! Not just plant a fat one on me!"

"I like you, okay?" he said unsurely.

"That still doesn't make it okay you pounced on me." Actually, it was okay by her, but she wasn't going to let him know that.

"Then what will?" Jason asked instantly.

"Find a panther. Make it attack. Protect me from it."

"Where do I find a panther?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. You're a rock star. You can make it work."

"Kissing you won't work?"

"Cop-out," she dismissed.

"High-maintenance."

"Jerk."

"Caity. Stop talking," Jason said softly as he stepped closer.

"Can I just say that that growly thing before you kissed me was kind of hot?" she breathed as he drew closer to her.

"You can," he said as he put his arms around her waist.

She smiled. "It was hot. And you can kiss me again."

He pressed his forehead against hers. "You're not going to yell at me afterward?"

"No…and…for the record…Andrew didn't kiss me…so, you got something on him."

"Good," he breathed before covering her lips with his.

Oh, yeah. He was better than any dream boy.


End file.
